1. i’m moving to berlin.
after talking about if for years, i decided to bite the bullet, quit my job and fly overseas. i’ll be going to germany early next year, almost 7 (!) years after I first visited and decided that I needed to be there.
of course i’m a bit worried that my impressions would have changed over time. it seems in the meantime, all the ‘creative types‘ have been trying on berlins ‘poor but sexy‘ clothes. there seem to be so many people from all over the world gravitating there, that i’m afraid i’m going to find myself in some sort of hipster retirement village, thats why i’m…

2. looking forward to poland!
i went for a bit of a walk around krakow and it looks awesome. i’m hoping the language barrier will act as sort of dickhead filter; it’s a lot harder to learn polish than german, and the incentives (for some people) are lower.

3. language
it’s been a while since i’ve had to sit down and memorise conjugations and new vocabulary, but it’s sort of satisfying. what’s nice about it is that it’s a long slow curve, the benefits won’t manifest themselves for quite a while.

4.
bikes bikes bikes!

but i won’t be able to ride this weekend, i’ll be too busy …

5. climbing.

using a set of cams that once belonged to diedier pieroni no less!
i’ve been training hard, so i hope it all pays off!

5. i listed to a bbc 4 podcast, thinking aloud.
one of the analogies given regarding the relationship between places and memories was actually a method that speechwriters use to memorize their speeches.
apparently the links between place and memory are so strong, if you imagine a memorable building with memorable features, a staircase, courtyard, distinct rooms etc., and associate each of these with one area you would like to touch upon in your talk, what you then do is then imagine yourself walking around this building, and ‘arriving’ at each part of the building will jog your memory for that part of the speech.
i don’t know what that has to do with anything, but fuck it is interesting.

frankfurt, july 2004
Crossing the Alte Brücke bridge on the way home from Club Keller, I stop Nina from jumping off the bridge. And I mean physically restrain her from throwing herself off. After a few calming beers in the turkish bar down the road, we spend the rest of the night drinking, smoking and methodically making our way through her record collection until the sun comes up, then it’s time to go home.

Amazed to discover that two of my favourite things (Werner Herzog films and rock climbing) combine into one during a random visit to the video store. Scream of Stone was made in 1991. Werner Herzog took a film crew to Cerro Torre in Patagonia and made a movie about one sport-climber’s mission to make the first ascent. The movie itself is a long shot from Fitzcarraldo and even Herzog now distances himself from it. Seeing footage of the climber Stefan Glowacz solo climbing Kachoong at Mt. Arapiles is definitely the highlight; it’s the same famous ascent pictured in this photo which you’ll find in climbing gyms everywhere.